KNIGHTS OF THE SKY
KNIGHTS OF THE SKY joins a growing list of WWI air combat games. In addition to
a full WWI campaign simulation, it offers head-to-head dogfighting via modem, a
feature that's been much requested by air combat enthusiasts. (This review is
based on the IBM-PC version.)
KNIGHTS joins MicroProse's series of realistic simulations, including F19, RED
STORM RISING, M1 BATTLE TANK, and SILENT SERVICE. As with other MPS simulations,
there is a comprehensive, well-written manual and a campaign that makes up the
main body of the game. The theme is rivalry between aces competing for the title
of Top Ace in the war. You begin as a British or French corporal in 1916, just
after the "Fokker Scourge" period. You fly missions with a variety of goals:
balloon busting; escorting a reconnaissance plane or bomber; strafing and
bombing ground targets; or flying patrols looking for enemy scouts.
The WWI campaign game can be played on the Allied side only. You can fly German
planes in the Flight Training or Dogfight Encounter games, but you can only
fight German enemy pilots. The only way to fly a German plane against an Allied
plane is in the head-to-head modem game.
There are 11 different Allied planes in the WWI campaign game. You start with
the more primitive ones available in 1916, and gradually move up to better
planes as they're introduced during the war. In addition, there are nine German
planes that can be chosen for the Flight Training, Dogfight Encounter, and
Head-to-Head modem game.
The other game modules are: Flight Training, where you encounter enemy planes
singly and in groups for combat practice; Dogfight Encounter, where you can pick
one of 16 enemy German aces to fly against; and Head-to-Head modem play,
discussed below. In the WWI campaign, Dogfight Encounter, and Flight Training
you can select a difficulty level between 1 and 5, with better enemy
marksmanship at the higher levels.
The graphics in KNIGHTS have the same look as the rest of the MPS Labs games,
with a 25-color palette and graduated sky available in VGA. There is more ground
detail than in most flight sims: You see trees, villages, roads, truck convoys,
and fields. You may need to turn down some of that detail to get a reasonable
frame rate. All the planes use the same generic cockpit graphic, with different
placement of the machine guns according to plane type. The out-of-cockpit views
of your wings and tail are the same generic images for all the planes. The
planes do look different in external and replay views. Planes and special
effects are rendered in polygon graphics, which works very well for the planes
but is less effective for things like smoke from a falling plane (depicted by a
series of gray hexagons).
The clouds in KNIGHTS are formed by layers of overlapping polygons in clumps;
they vary in density from none to a cover of roughly one-third of the sky,
depending on where you are. They're two-dimensional objects, so you're always
below or above them, never "in" the clouds, but they make a big difference in
dogfighting tactics in the modem game.
The frame rate is noticeably slower than in most other air combat games I've
played. This may be partly due to the large chunk of the outside world seen from
the cockpit. The game is playable on a 10-12MHz AT, but you'll enjoy it more
with a 16MHz processor. If you play in EGA, the frame rate is much faster.
The simulation clock in KNIGHTS is tied to the CPU speed: On a faster machine,
the game speed is faster. In other words, you'll fly over the airfield in less
time on a 33MHz machine than you will on a 16MHz machine. This results in an
innacurate flight model if your machine is either very fast or very slow. On a
386/33MHz with a fast video card, the simulation can actually run too fast to
play. (MicroProse is working on an update to fix this problem, as described
below.)
All the external and replay views are full-screen. Replays are automatic after
each kill, unless you toggle them off, and cannot be saved. After a kill, you
see a 10-second sequence of the action, after which you can return to your
plane, or re-run the sequence from one of several alternate angles.
The cockpit has a basic altimeter, speedometer, fuel-level gauge, compass, and
ammo counter. The compass markings accurately reflect your heading, but the
compass turns in the wrong direction. A real compass card stays still and the
plane rotates around it, so if you're accustomed to a real compass, the one in
KNIGHTS is difficult to use. A full-screen map showing your current position is
displayed when you hit the spacebar, and navigation is by reference to the map,
roads, and compass.
Pressing the "O" key starts the engine; it rumbles and misfires, sounding like
it's going to quit on you at a moment's notice. Other effects heard through the
AdLib sound card include explosions when planes are hit, flak over the trenches,
the rumble of your wheels on the grass landing field, and the sound of machine
guns -- yours and the enemy's.
The flight dynamics are generally good, but you don't lose energy in a turn.
This means you can't use real-life combat tactics for these airplanes. A
constant turning duel in a real WWI plane will put you on the deck in a short
amount of time, as you lose lift and airspeed. Throttling up in KNIGHTS
increases your turn rate, and throttling down slows your turn rate. In reality,
it should be the other way around. The plane does require constant pressure on
the stick to stay straight and level; without it, the plane will climb. This is
realistic, but should have been turned off in accelerated time mode, since it
makes the plane very hard to control.
A keyboard-controlled, self-centering rudder helps you line up strafing
targets. There is an auto-land option at the two easiest levels, but you
probably won't need it. Although the planes turn in a very tight circle, the
roll rate is not very quick -- about the same as the planes in BATTLE OF
BRITAIN.
The enemy pilots only use horizontal turning tactics, with lots of quick
reversals, and they sometimes fly as two or three planes in formation when
attacking. The quality of the enemy pilots is disappointing. One-on-one
dogfights degenerate into a turning battle that you'll win every time, once you
figure out the basic technique. The main challenge comes in battles with groups
of enemy planes. Except for missions in which you escort an Allied observation
plane, you're the only Allied plane in the sky; every plane you see will be
either a German observation plane or fighter.
Three bombs are available with all the planes for attacking ground targets;
they represent the 20 lb. Cooper bombs mounted on rails in the Sopwith Triplane,
Camel, and Snipe, and smaller artillery shells dropped over the side by hand in
the other planes. There are a number of ground targets for bombing and strafing:
convoys, enemy hangars, headquarters, and artillery.
When your plane is hit, you go down with smoke pouring from your engine,
although you can fight the controls and walk away from a controlled
crash-landing most of the time. It will seem like it only takes one hit to knock
down your plane or an enemy plane. While there is intermediate damage occurring,
the game doesn't use the sound of bullet hits or any other indication to tell
you it's happening. For all practical purposes, one hit from an enemy plane
knocks you down, and vice versa. You never die in mid-air, and you walk away
from being shot down almost every time, although the Germans will capture you if
you go down over enemy territory.
The modem play for me is the best feature of KNIGHTS OF THE SKY. The interface
is very smooth; just tell the game your pilot name, the COM port and speed
you're using, which number to dial, and whether you'll originate or answer, and
the game does the rest.
Once you get a confirmed connection, you choose a plane, and then you'll start
in the air with your opponent, just visible on the horizon in front of you.
There are no missions or goals, other than knocking down the other guy. Combat
can extend anywhere across the playing area of the campaign. It's great fun to
duck in and out of the clouds, playing hide-and-seek with your opponent -- and
then blast him in ambush. After each kill, the game asks if you want to play
again, and keeps a running score of the results. This way, you can do many short
combats and see who comes out ahead. A chat mode is available at any point in
the combat by hitting the TAB key. A text cursor appears on the screen, and you
can send challenges, insults, or whatever to the other player.
There is a tendency to get locked into turning duels, since the planes let you
turn without losing altitude, but generally speaking, the modem duels I flew
were all very exciting and enjoyable.
Unfortunately the frame rate does slow down a lot at 2400 baud; it's something
like one-third to one-half the frame rate of the regular game. I don't consider
that to be a serious drawback, since it's more than compensated for by having an
intelligent and tough opponent to fly against. A connection at 9600 baud might
be much better, but I was unable to test that for this review.
KNIGHTS has a few more bugs than I'm used to encountering in a MicroProse
product. When Max Immelman challenges you to a duel and you accept, instead of
starting at your home airfield, you'll find yourself sitting on the water way
out in the English Channel. The information on enemy aces in your portfolio
isn't always accurate: Both Oswald Boelcke and Max Immelmann were flying Fokker
EIII's, instead of the Halberstadt D2's they're reported to be flying. The
engine sound disappears on the mission in which your base is attacked (ALT-S
restores it). These are minor, but a little irritating.
MicroProse has announced an update to KNIGHTS OF THE SKY that will correct the
game speed problem with fast machines, fix the Immelman challenge and AdLib
sound bugs mentioned above, and add several new features. One new addition will
be "friendly fighters that engage enemy aircraft independently of the player,"
so other dogfights will be occuring in the skies around you. It'll also fix the
"one hit kill" problem, and the bug preventing enemy aircraft from attacking
planes you're escorting. The update will be available in MicroProse's library in
the Game Publishers Forum (GO GAMPUB), or on disk via surface mail for a $10.00
postage and handling charge. Contact MicroProse Customer Service at (301)
771-1151 for more information.
KNIGHTS OF THE SKY and QEMM/386 5.1 don't get along well together. I had the
game crash twice with a QEMM "exception 12" error. The game lists an "80286" as
minimum processor; I think it'll run best on a 16MHz or faster machine, but it
should be playable on a 10MHz AT-class machine. Graphics support is for CGA,
EGA, and VGA. Sound support is for PC speaker, Tandy, AdLib, and Roland MT-32
sound. Copy protection is off-disk; you must match squadron logos to their
corresponding names in the manual.
KNIGHTS OF THE SKY is an enjoyable simulation, although I feel that it doesn't
quite live up to the level of previous MPS products. The poor enemy pilot
quality and so-so flight model are the main culprits. However, the modem play
redeems the game. WWI was the original, classic dogfighting arena, and
MicroProse has done a good job of implementing dogfighting by modem in KNIGHTS
OF THE SKY.
KNIGHTS OF THE SKY is published and distributed by MicroProse Software.
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